The Pat Venditte Rule: So-called "switch pitchers" must indicate with which hand they'll be pitching before facing a batter. (This gives an advantage to switch hitters, who can respond by moving to the favorable side of the plate.) Pitchers aren't allowed to switch hands in the middle of a plate appearance unless they are injured, in which case they aren't allowed to pitch with the "injured" arm for the rest of their time on the mound. There's no pausing allowed to warm up either arm for a switch.

This rule was created after Pat Venditte, the only active switch pitcher in professional baseball, faced a switch hitter, and this happened.

Good results in the minors, but he doesn't really look like a good enough pitcher to be in the big leagues from either side (also, he's old). Then he tore his labrum in his right shoulder last year, which is one of the toughest injuries to recover from as a pitcher.

It's just my approach to the game. The batter is the aggressor attempting to make the pitcher lose (hell, the pitcher is the only player with a stat that specifically says "Losses") so the advantage should not go to the batter.

To be fair, in every other at bat in every other game a batter knows what hand the pitcher will use and the pitcher knows where the batter will bat from, (switch hitters obviously will bat from the opposite side from the pitcher.) I don't see why it should be different with a switch pitcher.

(switch hitters obviously will bat from the opposite side from the pitcher.)

I found an exception to this recently! Obviously this is a very rare case, but it does happen. Specifically, Shane Victorino hits right-handed against R. A. Dickey. After thinking about it for a while, though, it makes some sort of sense. As I understand it, the primary advantage conferred by batting from the opposite side is a better ability to pick up late movement, as the ball stays "in front" of the batter longer, rather than moving into peripheral vision. This gives the batter more time to distinguish between, say, a cut fastball or a two-seam fastball, and get a better feel for how far in the cutter will run, or how far away the two-seamer will. If the pitch coming at you is a knuckleball, though, that extra time really doesn't really tell you anything about the pitch that you didn't already know. Since Victorino has seen Dickey enough to know this, and he's stronger from the right side of the plate, he "gives up" the platoon advantage in favor of his pull power.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised. It would be interesting to put together a list of switch hitters, their dominant sides, and how they bat against knucklers. I'd be especially curious to see whether there is a stronger correlation of hitting from the dominant side if the knuckler is in the same division, like Victorino and Espinosa with Dickey, and other AL East guys with Dickey from here on, or Wakefield from before.

Of course, this would be tough to get at. Very limited sample sizes, especially considering that recent knucklers have all been righties, and most switch hitters are better from the left side of the plate.

The true subtlety of the balk call is a lost art form. We all know it awards an automatic base, but what actually gets called a balk:

*switches his pitching position from the windup to the set (or vice versa) without properly disengaging the rubber;

*while on the rubber, makes a motion associated with his pitch and does not complete the delivery;

when pitching from the set position, fails to make a complete stop with his hands together before beginning to pitch;

throws from the mound to a base without stepping toward (gaining distance in the direction of) that base;
throws or feints a throw from the rubber to an unoccupied base, unless a play is imminent;

steps or feints from the rubber to first base without completing the throw (doing so to second or third base is legal);

delivers a quick return, a pitch thrown right after receiving the ball back, with intent to catch the batter off-guard;

drops the ball while on the rubber, even if by accident, if the ball does not subsequently cross a foul line;

while intentionally walking a batter, releases a pitch while the catcher is out of his box with one or both feet
unnecessarily delays the game
pitches while facing away from the batter;

after bringing his hands together on the rubber, separates them except in making a pitch or a throw;

stands on or astride the rubber without the ball, or mimics a pitch without the ball; or
throws to first when the first baseman, because of his distance from the base, is unable to make a play on the runner there.

The pitcher's acts of spitting on the ball, defacing or altering the ball, rubbing the ball on the clothing or body, or applying a foreign substance to the ball are not balks, however it will result in the pitcher's ejection from the game if caught.

Very interesting. Throwing to first base without anyone covering it results in a balk? Wouldn't the pitcher basically be throwing the ball away, and all runners would advance anyways?

Also, I understand that the balk rule is intended to prevent the pitcher from gaining unfair advantages on batters and baserunners, but why is faking a throw to 2nd or 3rd base legal while faking to 1st is not?

More people know it now than in years past, but the only rule I know the number for is 6.08(b)(2). It's been a peeve of mine for years. It's even my license plate, because I'm a snooty California driver who has a cryptic vanity plate that nobody knows the meaning of.

Most Dodger fans should know it because of Don Drysdale's scoreless innings streak, which would have ended at 44 if Dick Dietz had been awarded first base. Instead, he flew out and the streak went to 58 2/3.

To be fair, when someone throws a ball over 90mph at the middle of your body, its pretty tough to get out of the way and not get hit in another part of the body that will hurt more. But that being said, I dont know how chase utley gets away with his HBPs sometimes.

My favorite one to bring up in these discussions is "The fourth out." Basically, in very specific situations, it is possible and necessary to get four outs in an inning. No, I am not talking about an overturned call, an error, or even a dropped third strike. Allow me to explain.

Let's say there are two outs; Rickey Henderson is on 3rd base, Cecil Fielder is on 2nd base, nobody on 1st, and Rich "El Guapo" Garces is at the plate. El Guapo hits a high chopper to shortstop, and immediately falls on his face running to 1B. Henderson quickly races home and scores while the ball is still in the air, and when the ball comes down the shortstop tags Fielder out running from 2nd to 3rd for the third out. Inning over, but the run scores because Henderson touched the plate before the fielder tagged Cecil out, right?

WRAONG

Because the force play is still in effect at 1B, AND because the run scoring depends on whether the out was made with a force play or not, the shortstop can still throw El Guapo out at 1st for the fourth out of the inning, even though he has already apparently ended it by tagging Cecil, which would NEGATE the run Henderson scored.

Basically, if a run would score due to an out not being made on a force play (as happened when Cecil was tagged), but the run would NOT score if a force play had been made (as would have been the case if the shortstop had just thrown El Guapo out at 1B), the fielder can still make that force play (if possible) to prevent the run from scoring.

This is without a doubt my favorite rule of the game. The best part is we pull it a lot more often than youd think in my woodbat softball league, and the other team invariably gets so angry they want to fight us. every time.

Doesn't change that it was bullshit. The farthest it had previously been called was 178 feet, it was 225 feet from home plate. That's a 30% increase. It was not routine and it killed the momentum for the third time that game. It was a travesty to have a one game play off in the first place. I won't forget or forgive it. But it's a footnote in the past now and the Braves are smoking hot right now, so who really cares, right?

Under no circumstance shall the Chicago Cubs be permitted to win a World Series.

You'd be surprised at how many Cub fans don't know about this rule. They're all so hopeful. I want to tell them, but it would just break their hearts, kind of like telling a cancer patient they aren't gonna make it.

It's not super obscure for most baseball fans. Most people know that if you're making a tag play for the 3rd out, the run scores if it occurs before the tag is applied. A lot don't know that if the runner could be forced out at the base he is traveling to, then it is considered the same as a force out.

A manager is allowed 2 mound visits to checkon his pitcher. One to make sure everything is all right and to set up the defense. The second to make a pitching change. Don Mattingly doesn't know this so well.

Rule 7.08: The runner is out if he is touched by a fair ball in fair territory before the ball has touched or passed an infielder. The ball is dead and no runner may score, nor runners advance, except runners forced to advance.

The last time I remember this happening was in either 2008 or 2009 when the A's lost in the bottom of the 9th inning after the runner on second got hit in the foot by a ground ball.

I just saw a weird play in the Pirates-Brewers game. Kyle Lohse is batting with a 1-2 count. He checks his swing on a ball in the dirt, and the Pirates appeal to first, the ump punches him out. Meanwhile, the ball had gotten away a little from Russell Martin, and he used his mask to corral it. After the appeal, he picked it up and tagged Lohse out. The play stood, but should Lohse have gotten first because Martin played a live ball with his mask?

You're out if you run past the runner in front of you but that only applies to fans who didn't play tee-ball. I've been with people who weren't at all familiar with the cat walk in Tropicana and they think the ball disappears when they see the fielder reactions. And last but not least the specifics regarding the hidden ball trick.